Tuesday, 27 July 2010

Festival - Intersquat, Berlin

Dear all!A little advice before reading our concept:Setting a festival‘s frame is not an easy job. However, we would like to take this challenge. Except from the creation of a frame, we won‘t set up a strict program for you. This is neither manageable for us nor it carries out our principles. Intersquat is not some kind of a festival to be consumed. It is a D.I.Y.-festival and it lives from all our ideas and initiatives!

As well as a picture frame does not make sense without a picture, the festival cannot exist without your commitment. Therefore it is very important that you help us with the organization of some workshops, discussion groups, actions, performances and whatever you want. If you already have some ideas what you want to do, please send a mail to intersquat-berlin@riseup.net by the 13th of August, so we can already include your ideas to the planning. Of course you can also act spontaneously at the festival.

We are planning to host the festival from 10th to 19th of September. It depends on the number of announcements we get before whether the festival will be really that long. That means: The more ideas and initiatives from you, the longer the festival. The fixed duration of the festival will be announced by August 13th on our blog (intersquatberlin.blogspot.de).

We are looking forward to working together with you all.Have fun with the lecture of our concept and we see each other in Berlin in September!

Let’s come together to provide a base for discussions, introducing different thoughts, initiating meetings, linking each other, developing new perspectives and creating a self-determined and autonomous free space.

Being inspired by other INTERSQUAT-Festivals, which took place at different locations all over the world, we want to develop our utopian ideas at the INTERSQUAT festival in Berlin with you together. The possibilities to live a self-determined life are gradually being restricted. Many of the existing structures of squats and autonomous spaces are strongly threatened to become extinct. As a result more and more spaces disappear and with them the attached chance to organize ourselves, to discuss, to exchange experiences and to develop alternatives to given structures, go also.

From our point of view, it is necessary to criticise capitalism, leadership and the ruling structures in an all-embracing way. Hence we want to discuss about alternatives, experience the exchange and reflect on counter-structures against discrimination of living beings. Free spaces are spaces where all creatures can live without being discriminated because of gender, skin color, sexuality preferences, money or other inequalities created by society. Since all kinds of repression are present in our daily life, it is important to create and preserve spaces where such constructed inequalitites are not only accepted, but are discussed and reflected. Those spaces should enable us to live and act out our own identity and make it possible to freely evolve our ways of life. We try to live by detaching ourselves from those repressions and social constructions, making people aware of them and sensitive to them.

The so called gentrification will catch up with all of us if we don’t make a stand against it. The process of “upgrading” cities does not just force squats and autonomous spaces all over the world to give way to profit-making projects. New houses are built and old buildings glance in a gleam of light after being profitably refurbished, rents are rising as a consequence. As a result, people with low wages and those who are discriminated by the structure of society are being moved to the outskirts. Movements working against this social injustice are often criminalized. Moreover through repressive measures their possibilities to act is muted. The festival provides space to link and solidarise with each other and to be able to act against repressive measures in a more effective way.

Within a diverse and powerful frame the festival offers enough space for self-organized actions, discussions, workshops, information events, exhibitions, music and art as one way to protest and develop ideas. There will also be a free flea market which is supposed to make a breakthrough the capitalistic understanding of money values and prices.

Topics to be talked about could be:How does gentrification show up in different cities?Whats the situation of squats and autonomous spaces all over the world?How can we network in a more efficient way?How can we reach stronger solidarity with our forms of protest and actions?

Since the discussion about free spaces is extremely complex and often includes a variety of subtopics, the festival will provide space for discussing these subtopics as a matter of course, e.g. anti-sexism and the negotiation of leadership.

Of course sexism, racism, all other kinds of discrimination, and thetransfiguration of hierarchical structures are neither tolerated nor accepted on thefestival!!!

Let us share our ideas and imagination of a free and wild life. The festival grows with you! If you want to do a workshop or an information meeting, initiate a discussion, show your music, art or if you have some ideas or topics for the festival, write to us at: intersquat-berlin@riseup.net

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hcmorethanmusic is now back after an extended break. It is a project about the global hardcore/punk scene. The main goal is supporting DIY musical and political activity in the hardcore community and promoting activism, which takes strong positions on fascism, racism, sexism, homophobia and animal rights.
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UKHCmorethanmusic is a band directory for a closer look at the activity in different areas of the UK.

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If anyone has a problem with any of the photos/videos that I've used then please understand where I'm coming from :)

I'm not in this to rip off people and anyway I mean it as a form of publicity and credit that I have chosen your work :D

Get in touch with me and I'll put in a link and probably even hassle you to write a report about your work :P

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